


PRESENTATION 



OF 



FLAG STAFF.. 



TO 

Columbia University, 

BY 

Lafayette Post No. 140, 

G. A. R., 
DEPARTMENT OF N. Y. 



MAY SEVENTH, 

. . . 1898 . . . 



DEDICATION CEREMONIES 



WITH THE ADDRESS OF 



Majoe-Gen'l DAN'L BUTTERFIELD 

Commander of Lafayette Post, 

AND THE ADDRESS OF 

President SETH LOW, 

Of Columbia University. 

AT THE PRESENTATION OF FLAG STAFF WITH 

PEDESTAL OF MARBLE AND BRONZE, 

IN FRONT OF THE LIBRARY 

OF THE INSTITUTION, 

MAY 7th, 1898, 



BY 

Lafayette Post to Columbia University 



IX 



\^i 



NEW YORK PUBL. LIBR. 
IN EXCHANQE. 



i,,. l<-,^ 



^^HE procession of Officers and Trustees of Columbia 
|A> moved from tlie Library, Lafayette Post, with 
music and colors moved from Scliermerliorn Hall at 
3.30, and formed at the flag staff. Geneeal Buttermeld, 
Post Commander, and Peesident Low leading, followed 
by Trustees and Faculty of Columbia College. Students, 
moving from University Hall, being formed on the left. 

Song — " America." 

The Commander, Geneeal Butterfield, orders : 

" Adjutant. You will detail a guard of Honor." 

(Adjutant selects and calls his guard.) 

(Adjutant.) " Commander, the guard is present." 

(Commander.) " Officer of the day, you will direct the 
officer of the guard to station this detail." 

(Commander.) Holy Scripture saith: "The Lord 
gave the word ; great was the army of those that published 
it." Psl. xviii, ii. 

" Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set 
up a standard." Jer. 1, 2. 

"In the name of our God we will set up our banners. 

Officer of the day, you will order the Guard of Honor 
to raise the flag." Ps. xx, 5. 

(Officer of the Day.) " Officer of the Guard, let the flag 
be raised." 

(Flag is Raised.) 

(Music.) " The Star Spangled Banner." Sung by 
Post and Students. 



(Commander.) The Chaplain will now offer the prayer 
of dedication. (Parade Rest!) 

(Chaplain.) We pray Thee to make our memories 
steadfast, that we may never forget the generous sacrifices 
made for our Country. May the graves of our heroes be 
the altars of our grateful and reverential patriotism. 

And now, O God, bless thou this memorial. 

Bless it O God, in honor of mothers who bade their 
sons do brave deeds. 

In honor of wives who wept for husbands who would 
never come back again. 

In honor of children whose heritage is their fallen 
fathers' heroic name. 

In honor of men and women who ministered to the 
hurt and dying. 

But chiefly, O God, in honor of men who counted not 
their lives dear when their country needed them ; of those 
alike who sleep beside the dust of their kindred, or under 
the salt sea, or in nameless graves, where only thine 
angels stand sentinels till the reveille of the resurrection 
morning. 

Protect it, and let it endure, and unto the last gener- 
ation may its influence be for the education of the citizen, 
for the honor of civil life, for the advancement of the 
nation, for the blessedness of humanity, and for the 
furtherance of Thy holy kingdom. 

Hear us, O God. We ask it in the name of him who 
made proof of the dignity and who consecrated the power 
of sacrifices in His blessed life and death, even in the name 
of Jesus Christ, the Great Captain of our salvation. Amen! 

(Comrades.) Amen! 

(Commander Butterfield). Attention ! 

In behalf of Lafayette Post, Department of New York, 
Grand Army of the Republic, I now dedicate this standard 
and pedestal, knowing it will keep bright, memories of 
those who in the navy guarded our inland seas and ocean 

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coasts, and fell in defence of the flag. I dedicate it know- 
ing it will recall memories of those who in the army fought 
for our hillsides and valleys and plains, and fell in defence 
of the flag. I dedicate it assured that it will bring heart- 
felt gratitude to those who on land and on sea fought for 
the Union, and fell in defence of the flag ; who on land and 
on sea flghting for their country, and for the Law and the 
Constitution, fell in defence of the flag ; also, gratitude to 
those who are now in arms at their Country's call, and who 
stand ready with their lives, their fortunes, and their 
sacred honor to do their duty. 

(Commander.) ' ' Post Attention !" 

Address of Presentation by Geneeal. Butteefield. 

Me. Peesident Low : — Our services of dedication are 
ended. Holding in my hand a list of the Gallant Sons of 
Columbia who in years past, from its foundation in 1754 
down to the commencement of the existing war in April, 
1898, beginning with Thomas Marston a graduate of 1758, 
your 1st Class, who was a member of the Revolutionary Com- 
mittee of 1776, and including such distinguished alumni of 
Columbia as John Parke Custis, Harman Rutgers of the 
Continental Army, killed in the battle of Long Island 1776, 
Major General Alexander' Hamilton of the United States 
Army who was upon the staff of General Washington ; 
Jacob Morris of 1775 an Aide-de-Camp to General Greene ; 
Ogden Hoffman of 1812 Midshipman in the United States 
Navy ; a De Peyster, Captain of the United States Army ; 
a Kearney, Colonel of Dragoons and Brigadier General in 
the Army, and Governor of Vera Cruz, and of the City of 
Mexico during the war of 1848; another Kearney, the 
famous brave and gallant "Phil" Kearney, a Major 
General killed at Chantilly at the age of 47 in 1862 ; the 
brave General Ellis killed at Gettysburg, and the noble 
Richard Tilden Auchmuty breveted for gallantry at Gettys- 
burg ; F. Augustus Schermerhorn breveted for gallantry at 
Five Forks, who gave his splendid yacht to the Government 
a few days since ; General Stewart L. Woodford now on his 

6 



way to us from Spain ; General Henry E. Davies of the 
class of '57, who won his stars as a Major General at the 
point of his sword in the war for the union ; Henry Ketteltas 
of the same class breveted for gallantry at Shiloh, Chick- 
maugua, and Mission Ridge ; Alfred T. Mahan who went 
from here to graduate at the Naval Academy in '69, and so 
through the long list in the staff and other departments. 
Time does not j)ermit to name them all, although included 
with the list are members of our Post, and the names of 
such distinguished families as the Jay's, the Morris's the 
King's, and members of your faculty now with you, the 
Surgeon General of the Army and others. These names 
are reminders that it needs not this flag, it needs not elo- 
quence nor words of patriotism for the purpose of incul- 
cating in the Sons of Columbia a spirit of devotion to flag 
and country. That seed has been well planted here, and 
will continue in the future as in the past to bring forth its 
fruits. I recall with pleasure and pride your own eloquent 
words upon the historic field of Gettysburg, and your 
glorious tribute to the gallant 14th Regiment of Brooklyn, 
to-day again in the field at its country's call. I fully realize 
what efffe(;t the words and example of your administration 
of Columbia will be ; it suffices to give you for Columbia 
this tribute from our Post of Veterans, may it perform the 
double duty of saying to you, to the young men assembled 
here, and to those who will come in the future, that our 
veterans, and the veterans of the Grand Army of the 
Republic appreciate the service of Columbia's Sons for that 
flag, and have full confidence, that their glorious service 
in the past will always be repeated in the future. 

In the name of my comrades of Lafayette Post No. 140, 
Department of New York, Grand Army of the Republic, 
representing soldiers and sailors who defended the integ- 
rity and authority of the nation in the past. In the names 
of my comrades who in the present are again showing their 
loyalty and devotion to the flag and country, I present to 
you this pedestal and staff dedicated to the purposes set 
forth in the address of our late commander and comrade 



Admiral Meade, when, the flag, glorious emblem of our 
nationality, was presented two years since. With those 
ceremonies we may now recall the words and promise of 
our then commander, the gallant and lamented Meade. 

You will find in imperishable bronze the words so im- 
pressively spoken on these grounds to you by Admiral 
Meade. ' ' Love, Cheeish and Defend It.' ' You will also 
find the emblem of our order whose history (yet unwritten) 
I trust some day may be, replete as it is with the grandest 
spirit and example of Fraternity, Charity and Loyalty of 
a noble character, in the service and the money it has 
given from the generosity of our comrades to comrades 
and their families in distress. 

Accept it sir, with our trust that the Historic loyalty 
and devotion of Columbia to our country and flag, its 
prompt response to every call and requirement therefor, 
will continue to add to the rolls of honor to be emblazoned 
upon the walls of your splendid and historical institution 
of learning. It is yours, the gift of our comrades to 
Columbia. 

Accept it sir,' and may blessings and prosperity ever rest 
upon you and upon Columbia in future as in the past 
while you adhere always to the principles and spirit it 
illustrates and call forth — 

AND MAY GOD BLESS COLUMBIA. 



Song — " Three Cheers for the Red, White and Blue.' 



Reception and acceptance of Pedestal and Staff by 
President Low. 

Gen, Butteeeield, Commander, and Comrades of 
Lafayette Post : 

When Lafayette Post, only two years ago, at the 
dedication of this Site, gave to this University the National 
Colors, and made the promise, so generously fulfilled to- 
day, of this lofty and noble staff from which our country's 

7 



flag now proudly flies, it did not seem likely that within 
so short a time the United States would be at war. The 
flag that we then received at your hands was the more 
precious to us, nevertheless, because, in your presence, we 
could not forget that our flag is what it is by reason of the 
self-sacrifices that have been freely made for its sake ; and 
because we rejoice to receive the flag from men who had 
themselves fought for what it stands for, under its inspir- 
ing folds. It was not, therefore, in careless mood, but 
most reverently and earnestly, that, in receiving the flag 
at your hands, the men of Columbia University promised 
to "love, cherish, and defend it." More quickly, I dare- 
say, than any of us then thought probable, the time has 
come when you may judge in what spirit the Columbia of 
to-day is likely to redeem that pledge. As you have your- 
self pointed out, Sir, we would be false to all our traditions 
were we to be backward in responding to the call of the 
country at such a time as this. But there has been no 
hesitation. The University has already surrendered four 
of its oflicers to the public service, and has charged me to 
see that not one of them suffers by reason of his absence 
at his country's call. The Captain of the University Crew 
has handed in his resignation that he might go out with 
the naval militia, and the students have accepted, uncom- 
plainingly, this heavy blow to an interest that is very dear 
to their hearts. Scarcely a regiment or a naval battalion 
has volunteered from these parts that has not counted in 
its ranks one or more of our students ; and others stand 
ready to follow when the call comes. I do not know how 
many have gone in all ; but enough, certainly, to bring 
home to those who are left a realizing sense of the par- 
amount claims of the country, and to assure you that your 
trust in the men of Columbia has not been misplaced. I 
must be permitted, also, to refer with pride and gratifica- 
tion, as the President of the University, to the patriotic 
act of Mr. F. Augustus Schermerhorn, both an alumnus 
and a Trustee, who in the present emergency, has freely 
given his yacht to the government, as in the days of '61- 

8 



'65 he offered his life. He was breveted, as you have said, 
Sir, for gallant conduct at the Battle of Five Forks ; and 
he is breveted now again, by the public voice, as a citizen 
worthy of high honor because he has chosen to give this 
vessel to the Government at a time when he might have 
sold the yacht to it at a high price. These are the things 
that show Columbia's spirit ; and they show, I am glad to 
believe, the same lofty patriotism that has animated the 
men of Columbia from the beginning. 

But if this flag and staff make an especial appeal to 
our patriotism, that is only a part of the service they will 
do for us. They will inspire the scholar at his desk, and 
the graduate in his office, no less than the volunteer on 
land and sea. The country needs men willing to die for 
it ; but it also needs men willing to live for it. The country 
has need of sound learning, of fearless investigation, of 
patient study and reflection, no less than of the service 
that can be rendered in the day of battle. No hope can 
live in the atmosphere of this University, no ambition can 
be cherished here, that will not gather fresh inspiration 
from the sight of this staff and banner with their silent 
but eloquent summons to the constant service of country 
and of mankind. Was there ever a flag before in the 
world's long history that stood for so wide a sympathy 
with the downtrodden and the oppressed ? That meant so 
much of help and hope to the weak and the discouraged ? 
Nor can I doubt that, as we look upon our Country's flag, 
the feeling of gratitude will be deepened in us all for the 
blessings of civil liberty and for the opportunities for study 
and for usefulness that abound in the wide land over 
which float so caressingly the Stars and Stripes. I am 
confident, therefore, that all our life in the Univesity will 
be the deeper, the broader, and the richer because of this 
flag and the staff that you have given to us. If this be so, 
what more can you ask ? You have added to our life as a 
university some touch of the earnestness that strengthens 
purpose ; some breath of the sympathy that constrains to 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



029 929 212 5 



an unselfisli life ; some sense of tli6 loyalty that elevates 
and ennobles all who submit themselves to its inlinence. 
For all this we thank you ; and again we pledge ourselves 
to you who have given to us this staff and this beautiful 
and precious flag, the flag of our beloved country, that 
in peace and in war, in war and in peace, we will "love? 
cherish, and defend it." 

Hymn.— " Praise God from whom all blessings flow." 

Benediction by Chaplain Wood of Lafayette Post. 



The following letter has been received from 
President Low. 

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, 

IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 

Peesident's Room, 

May Qth, 1898. 

My dear Gbnbeal Buttekfikld : 

I write just a line to tell you how much we all enjoyed 
the ceremony of Saturday afternoon. Everyone who took part in it thought it 
a most impressive occasion. I need not say to you that we are very proud of 
our staff and flag, and that the University feels very closely united in interest 
with Lafayette Post of the Grand Army of the Republic. 

Thanking you and the Post for all you have done for us, I am, 

Respectfully, 

SETH LOW, 

Presideni. 

Gen'l Daniel Butteefield. 



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